/compliance

name: compliance
description: "Use this skill when the user is building software for a regulated industry and needs to understand compliance requirements. Also use when the user mentions 'HIPAA,' 'FERPA,' 'SOC 2,' 'PCI,' 'GDPR,' 'compliance,' 'regulated industry,' 'healthcare app,' 'fintech,' 'edtech,' or asks 'do I need to worry about [regulation]?' Covers what regulations mean for your tech stack — not legal theory, but concrete technical requirements."

Industry Compliance

If you're building for healthcare, finance, education, or any regulated industry, there are rules about how you handle data. You probably already know the regulations from your professional life — but you don't know what they mean for software. This skill translates compliance requirements into concrete technical decisions.

**This skill is for understanding what regulations mean for your tech stack.** For implementing security controls (auth, encryption, rate limiting), use **secure**. For writing legal documents (ToS, Privacy Policy), use **legal**. For payment processing and PCI, use **payments**.

> **Disclaimer:** This skill covers common compliance patterns. It is not legal advice. Consult a compliance specialist for your specific situation, especially before handling sensitive data in production.

Core Principles

• Compliance is not optional in regulated industries. Getting it wrong can kill your business.
• Most compliance requirements boil down to: who can see data, how is it stored, and what happens when something goes wrong.
• The right tech stack choices handle 80% of compliance for you. Don't reinvent the wheel.
• Compliance is cheaper to build in from the start than to retrofit later.
• You don't need SOC 2 certification at $0 MRR. But you do need to make decisions now that don't block certification later.

Don't Do Yet

• **Don't pay for a SOC 2 audit** ($15K-50K) until enterprise customers require it. Just follow the practices.
• **Don't hire a compliance officer.** A one-time consultation ($1K-5K) is enough until $10K+ MRR.
• **Don't build compliance features nobody asked for.** Cookie consent is required. A full data governance dashboard is not — yet.
• **Don't use compliance as a reason to delay launch.** Make compliant tech choices, launch, then iterate. Perfection is the enemy of shipped.

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Find Your Requirements

**Tell AI:**

I'm building a SaaS product for [industry/profession].
My product handles this type of data: [describe the data — patient records, student info, financial transactions, etc.]
My users are in: [countries/regions]

What compliance requirements apply to me?
For each one, tell me:
1. What it is (one sentence)
2. Whether I need it before launch or can add it later
3. What it means for my tech stack (specific technical requirements)
4. Whether I need a certification/audit or just need to follow the rules

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Compliance by Industry

Healthcare (HIPAA)

**Applies when:** Your software stores, processes, or transmits Protected Health Information (PHI) — patient names, conditions, treatment records, billing info tied to health data.

**What it means for your tech stack:**

| Requirement | What to Do | |------------|-----------| | Data encryption at rest | Use a database that encrypts stored data (Supabase, AWS RDS with encryption enabled) | | Data encryption in transit | HTTPS everywhere (all modern hosting does this) | | Access controls | Role-based access, audit logs of who accessed what | | Business Associate Agreement (BAA) | Your hosting and database provider must sign one. Not all do. | | Audit trail | Log every access to PHI: who, when, what | | Minimum necessary | Only show users the data they need for their role | | Breach notification | Have a plan for what happens if data leaks |

**Hosting that offers BAAs:**

• AWS (free tier eligible)
• Google Cloud
• Microsoft Azure
• Supabase (on Team plan and above)
• Render (on request)
• Heroku (enterprise)

**Hosting that does NOT offer BAAs (don't use for PHI):**

• Vercel (no BAA available)
• Netlify (no BAA available)
• Railway (no BAA currently)
• Free tiers of most services

**Tell AI:**

I'm building a healthcare SaaS that stores [type of health data].
Set up the tech stack for HIPAA compliance:
- Database: needs encryption at rest and BAA support
- Hosting: needs BAA support
- Auth: role-based access with audit logging
- Add an audit log table that tracks every PHI access
- Ensure all API endpoints require authentication
- No PHI in URL parameters, logs, or error messages

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Finance (PCI-DSS, SOC 2)

**PCI-DSS applies when:** You handle credit card numbers directly.

**The shortcut:** Use Stripe. Stripe handles PCI compliance for you. Never store card numbers in your database. Never let card numbers touch your server. Use Stripe Elements or Checkout — the card data goes directly from the user's browser to Stripe, bypassing your server entirely.

If you use Stripe correctly, PCI is handled. See **payments** skill for implementation.

**SOC 2 applies when:** Enterprise customers ask for it (usually $50K+ deals). You don't need it at launch.

**Plan for SOC 2 later by doing these now:**

• Use a reputable hosting provider (AWS, GCP, Azure)
• Enable logging and audit trails
• Use SSO/OAuth for authentication (not custom auth)
• Document your security practices
• See **secure** skill for security checklist

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Education (FERPA)

**Applies when:** Your software handles student education records — grades, enrollment, disciplinary records, financial aid.

| Requirement | What to Do | |------------|-----------| | Written consent for disclosure | Parents/students must consent before you share their data | | Access controls | Only authorized school officials see student records | | Directory information opt-out | Students can opt out of directory info sharing | | Data minimization | Only collect what you need | | Audit trail | Track who accessed student records |

**Tell AI: